International screening of „Who will write our history?”

January 10, 2019

The event will take place on 27 January 2019 – on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The screening of Roberta Grossman’s film „Who will write our history” will take place in over 250 locations worldwide: international organizations, cultural and academic centres, museums, cinemas, theatres, synagogues.

The American-Polish co-production was made in the convention of a fictionalized documentary. The script was based on Samuel Kassow’s book, „Who will write our history?”, telling the story of the Oneg Shabbat group and the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The film was directed by Roberta Grossman, who has also written the script. Nancy Spielberg – Steven Spielberg’s younger sister – was responsible for co-production, and Dyanna Taylor – winner of five Emmy awards for TV productions – for cinematography. The role of Emanuel Ringelblum was played by Piotr Głowacki, Rachela Auerbach — by Jowita Budnik, Ringelblum’s wife Judyta — by Karolina Gruszka, while Abraham Lewin, one of Ringelblum’s associates, author of a diary from the Warsaw Ghetto, was played by Wojciech Zieliński. In English dubbing, we will hear Adrien Brody (Emanuel Ringelblum), Joan Allan (Rachela Auerbach) and others.

The film premiered at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award. The European premiere took place on 19 October during the International Film Festival in Rome. In Poland, it opened the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, where it received special award – The Camera of David. The film also received the Audience Award for the best documentary at the Jewish International Film Festival.

Match&Spark is Polish co-producer of the film and co-organizer (with Next Film) of special screenings in Poland.

The main screening will take place at the Paris UNESCO headquarters, with an audience of about 1500 diplomats. The film will be accompanied with a discussion, which will include such participants as Audrey Azoulay – general director of UNESCO, Éric de Rothschild, President Memorial de la Shoah, Nancy Spielberg, producer of the film, Roberta Grossman, and Samuel D. Kassow. The discussion will be moderated by Stephen Smith, head of the USC Shoah Foundation and representative of UNESCO in the area of education about genocide.

The events will be transmitted live in social media: of the film, Oneg Szabat Program (in English), Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (in Polish).

The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute , the Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland and the Oneg Szabat Program are partners of the film and of the special screening, which will take place on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on 27 January.

The patrons of all the screenings are Steven Spielberg USC Shoah Foundation and the World Jewish Congress. They will be linked to the #WeRemember campaign, commemorating the memory of the Holocaust victims. Screenings will be preceded with a trailer presenting the goals and reach of the campaign, the viewers will be encouraged to join the campaign on their profiles in social media.

Screenings in Poland will take place in several locations: the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, the POLIN Museum, in Łódź, at the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (where original documents from the Archive as well as a milk can in which they were preserved in can be seen at the permanent exhibition, „What we’ve been unable to shout out to the world”).

The film will be also screened in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Israel (in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa), United States (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles), Canada, Australia, as well as in the UN information centres in Belarus, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago.

Partners of the event: UNESCO, Memorial de la Shoah, World Jewish Congress, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Museum of Tolerance, USC Shoah Foundation, Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, Oneg Szabat Program, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

The UNESCO event is developed in cooperation with Katahdin Foundation, the Shoah Memorial, World Jewish Congress, ARTE, NDR.